Skegby

Skegby is a small village in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, located two miles west of Mansfield and one mile north of Sutton-in-Ashfield, close to Stanton Hill lying on the B6014 road. Skegby sits on both sides of a deep valley near the source of the River Meden. It is under Sutton-in-Ashfield. The parish covers about 1,433 acres and used to include the then hamlet of Stanton Hill.HistoryThe name of Skegby has a similar origin to the name of Skegness – originating from a Dane named Skeggi ("bearded one"). Skegby is mentioned in the Domesday Book as "a berewick of the King's manor at Mansfield". Skegby manor house (which is now in ruins) is located on Mansfield Road. In 1223 Godfrey Spigurnal became Lord of the Manor of Skegby. His descendants held the estate until 1334 when Elizabeth Spigurnal, who married Thomas Gobion, disposed of it to Richard Pensax. His descendant passed it to Percival Lindley in 1450 which was the beginning of the three hundred-year tenure of the Lindley family as Lords of the Manor. The estate passed to John Dodsley in 1820 and the Dodsley family remained in Skegby until the 1930s. The last Manorial Court was held in Skegby Hall on 25 April 1924. The current Lord of the Manor is Dominic Vernon Dodsley Williams, who currently resides in Carmarthenshire.Francis White's "Directory of Nottinghamshire," of 1853 tells us that Skegby had "an extensive coal mine, and several limestone quarries and kilns" and that in the 1800s "stocking-making was a common occupation." According to White, Skegby celebrated its Village Feast on the Sunday after 10 July.